Please consider donating the following items to any of our donation center. For us, the most convenient pick up location is Sherman 205. 

Pasta

Tomato sauce
Canned fruits
Can openers
Toothpaste
Deodorants
Body lotion
Bandages/first aid kit
Rubbing alcohol
Hydrogen Peroxide
Canned Meat (chicken, tuna, etc.) 
Jerky 
Gloves 

Clorox wipes

N95 Respiratory masks

The food pantry, Sherman 205, will be open:

Monday March 23^rd from 12(noon) – 2pm

Tuesday March 24th from 4 pm to 6pm.

Please stop by if you are in need of food and personal care items. 

Contact retrieveressentials@umbc.edu  if you are having trouble accessing the building. 

Please consider making donations to the food pantry. Our donation box is located right outside of Sherman 205. 

In case you need food over the weekend, in an emergency or after hours, please contact our UMBC Campus Police Department by calling (410) 455-5555. The UMBC Police Station is a designated Food Zone that hosts readily accessible bags of food. Address: UMBC Police Department 1000 Hilltop Circle Baltimore, MD 21250.

Baltimore Co: https://www.bcps.org/system/coronavirus/
Prince George's Co: https://www.pgcps.org/Inside-PGCPS/2019-2020/Student-Meals-Available-During-COVID-19-Closures/
Montgomery Co: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/Coronavirus/COVID-19_Emergency_Closure_Meals_for_MCPS_Students.pdf
Howard Co: Anyone under 18 and/or students: https://news.hcpss.org/news-posts/2020/03/hcpss-to-provide-free-meals-during-school-closures-meal-service-march-17-27-2020/
Anne Arundel Co: http://aacpsschools.org/pressr/?p=5653

Please share this information with anyone you know who has children ages 2 to 18.

The Retriever Essentials food pantry is still open tomorrow during the following hours for your shopping convenience before spring break: 

Friday 11 to 1

Please visit us at Sherman 205, and please pass the word to others who may be in need of food and personal care items. Additionally, you can also stop at our food zones to pick up pre-made food bags. 

The Retriever Essentials Team

To Our Campus Community:

The Retriever Essentials food pantry is open this week during the following hours for your shopping convenience before spring break: 

Tuesday 4 to 6

Thursday 9:30 - 11:30 a.m.

Friday 11 to 1

Please visit us at Sherman 205, and please pass the word to others who may be in need of food and personal care items. Additionally, you can also stop at our food zones to pick up pre-made food bags. 

The Retriever Essentials Team

Fehintola Elizabeth Bright-Awonuga is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Health Administration and Public Policy on the Health Policy Track with a minor in Africana Studies. She has been serving on Retriever Essentials Student Leadership Board since September 2019 and volunteering for the Retriever Essentials for two years, since September 2018.
 
Through the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Shriver Center’s Living Learning Community - the Shriver LLC - where our main focus is community service, I became a Retriever Essentials Ambassador Volunteer, so far, for two years. Additionally, I am a second-year peer mentor and am on the Retriever Essentials Student Leadership Board. I collect and inventory donations and pack and deliver donation bags to Food Zones around campus. I act as a liaison that fosters communication between the students, faculty, and staff members who benefit from our organization and my director, maintain our social media pages, and help with tabling events promoting awareness of our organization and food insecurity on college campuses.
Coming into this applied experience, last school year, I thought that it would only be in the position to do standard tasks. I didn’t expect to inwardly and outwardly reflect on my experience and apply to my everyday life. However, I did. And for that I am grateful. As a part of my reflection, I allowed myself to “step into someone else's shoes” to truly understand how I could use my position to positively impact them. I’ve also gained leadership, organizational, intercultural understanding, social awareness, career management, and digital technology skills.
I learned that there are other support systems on campus that offer emotional, physical, mental, and academic support to students. Additionally, I learned that behind-the-scenes work is as valid as on-the-field work. For example, working in the actual food pantry is just as valuable as working at tabling events in which on talks to students because everything creates an interconnected system of impactfulness.
Most shockingly, I came to the realization that if Retriever Essentials didn’t exist the faculty, staff, and students that we serve wouldn’t have this support system. In turn, this can result in poor performance, academically, socially, emotionally, mentally, and physically, and can eventually put this “at risk group” at risk of dropping out of college. “About half of students who started college do not finish,” said President Freeman Hrabowski in his 2018 Convocation Address. Food insecurity is a significant determining factor. For example, in the article Food Insecurities…. Community College Students it states that in a study, “8% of community college students with food insecurity planned to drop out entirely.” Why? Students who are food insecure “have poorer physical health, symptoms of depression and psychological stress”, says Colleges…. Feed Homeless Students article.
On a lighter note, my most memorable part of volunteering with Retriever Essentials over these past years was when we recently moved into our new pantry (located at Sherman 205). It was amazing. All of the volunteers came to move food items, boxes, clothes, toiletries, shelves, and etc. We moved from a big office space to a small closet space and now have upgraded to a classroom space. In the near future, we will be moving into an even bigger space on campus. I’ve seen the growth we’ve made as a program. I have had the privilege to experience this growth. From the triumphs to the tribulations and to the successes and struggles, we’ve persevered because we have a zeal to serve our community. I would tell young people, “only a life lived in the service to others is worth living.” There’s so much to gain from volunteering. It shouldn’t be seen as a chore but an opportunity to create change by pursuing the service they’re most passionate about and giving it their all.
At UMBC, and many other campuses, food insecurity is an issue that is unintentionally overlooked by many in the community, including us, the students. Luckily, we “have the opportunity to make a difference in the world”, once said President Freeman Hrabowski. I do not regret my decision of joining this team because I have seen first-hand the seed this organization has sown. The seed is continuing to sprout, grow, and blossom into something bigger than it once was. I have the privilege of impacting this growth. I hope one day you can too.

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